The Spice of Life
by KatanaDoshi
Summary: The spice of life, as John was coming to understand, could be any number of things. Or just sugar. sequel to Many Things But Never Dull


The Spice of Life

Author: KatanaDoshi

Summary: The spice of life, as John was coming to understand, could be any number of things. Or just sugar.

I was utterly shocked when someone asked for a sequel to Many Things but Never Dull, but they seemed sincere about it and I love requests, so here it is.

According to another reviewer my time line was wrong and I believe them (I had assumed movie-verse and manga-verse would be more similar. Whoops), so this takes place after The Great Game and between L: Change the World and Death Note: the Last Name. Because I don't like the way the series ends I mention almost none of anything that happened in Death Note. Just so you know.

Disclaimer: If I owned Sherlock, he would regularly walk around the flat naked. If I owned Death Note, none of the upsetting things that happened would have occurred. As it is, I haven't even SEEN the movies.

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><p>Three days after 'Eraldo Coil' dropped by to visit John realized that Sherlock was not going to explain the weirdness that was his "friend" nor would he give any details about what they had done together in the past. That annoyed him at first, but then there was a triple homicide and a jewelry theft and John forgot all about the strange man crouched in his chair. Until he came home one day and found the strange man crouched in his chair.<p>

"I like your sweater," said Eraldo Coil as John was hanging up his jacket. Sherlock didn't even pause as he swept into the room. "The murder case went well?"

"Oh yes. It'd have gone faster if Scotland Yard hadn't been getting in my way," Sherlock dropped into his chair and slouched dramatically. The mask looked around for a second.

"Where's the skull? I always liked the skull…"

"Mrs. Hudson took it," John answered causally. "She does that sometimes. Would you like some tea, Eraldo?"

"It's just L now. Or Ryuuzaki if you'd prefer more than a letter," the man said agreeably. "And tea would be lovely, Dr. Watson."

"Just John," he returned and went to the kitchen. There was a package of Jammie Dodgers on the counter that didn't look like Sherlock had done anything unfortunate with and he grabbed that as he returned to the living room with tea.

"Oh thank you," always polite and gracious, Era- L happily accepted the tea and bowl of sugar cubes. Sherlock frowned at him as John sat down.

"Where's my tea?" he asked petulantly. John shrugged.

"I only have two hands," John set down the snacks after taking a few for himself as L started altering his tea. "So what are you doing in London this time, L?"

"Hmm…" The mask lifted as L tasted his tea for the first time. The mouth frowned and L added more sugar cubes. "Actually, I'm taking a break from my current case and I couldn't think of anywhere better to go."

"The thing with the people?" Sherlock asked vaguely. L nodded and tasted his tea again. "I thought that'd be over by now."

"It's not as simple a matter as we've led the media to believe," L said a little sadly. He picked up a Jammie Dodger and sighed. "I've missed these."

"None where you are, then?" John surprised himself with how not-weird this seemed the second time around.

"No. There are similar snacks of course… and there is a whole host of other delicious treats there, but sometimes you just want the original," he seemed to smell the treat, like he was getting ready to sample a fine wine, before taking a bite. "Mmmmm."

"If the case is giving you that much trouble, perhaps I-"

"No!" L said sharply. Sherlock seemed surprised and John imagined his own face reflected the same shock. The man behind that mask had been nothing but soft tones and agreeable personality until now. L seemed to shrink a little in his seat, hunching his shoulders. "No," a bit more softly now. "This is a bad business, Sherlock and I don't think Dr. Watson would forgive me if I took you away from him."

It occurred to John that L probably thought, like everyone else, that they were a couple. And of course Sherlock would be happy to just let him keep thinking that.

"No, you're probably right about that," Sherlock slouched a bit more and did what he was best at; sulked. L took another well choreographed sip of tea. "But you _can_ consult me if you hit a road block."

"Of course," L nodded and with that the moment had passed and it was on to the usual pleasantries. Had L heard anything more about that thing with the man and the bulldog? Yes, that had been resolved by the local police with only a nudge in the right direction. Did Sherlock remember the woman with the hat? Oh yes, that had been a good bit of fun, hadn't it? Too bad about the frogs, though.

After an hour or so, L's phone rang and he thanked the flat mates for the hospitality they'd shown and left.

"I really wish he would let me help him with the big cases," Sherlock complained. John was a little concerned that if he slouched any further he would put out his back, but didn't say anything as he wiped the crumbs off the coffee table and picked up the empty tea cup.

"He seemed to think it was too dangerous," John noted mildly. Sherlock snorted.

"All of his cases are dangerous. I'm starting to think he doesn't take cases that don't have the potential to kill him anymore. John," the doctor stopped where he was just outside the kitchen and turned to look at the other man. "We're out of milk."

If John threw a package of Jammie Dodgers at Sherlock's head there was no one else around to notice and the consulting detective certainly wasn't going to share that information with anyone.

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><p>AN: quick note for my fellow Americans, to "slouch" means to lean back or recline. "Hunching" is that forward slopping of the shoulders that people tell you not to do because it ruins your posture.

For the Brits that don't know why I'm making that note, in America "Slouching" is used to describe both those things and I didn't want people thinking that Sherlock was curling in on himself, because come on, why would he do that?

R&R please. If there's something specific you'd like to see (pairing, story idead, specific genre), drop me a line and it might get the bunnies going.


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